Magnepan Speakers LRS, 0.7i, 1.7i etc - 1000 watt amplifiers can't drive them. 50 watts can?

Q&A: https://youtu.be/1LlPPyfraC4 Part 1: Crazy ribbon speakers for $650 ! Magnepan LRS loudspeaker Sound Review ! https://youtu.be/DxZvzWEf-m8 Part 2: How to Place Magnepans: https://youtu.be/d3IiH-SjhBE Part 3: How to amplify: youtu.be/fw_WSyI1LDI

You have done such a great and complete job of covering everything we need to know about these speakers, and have done a wonderful service for all of your viewers. Thank you! This review also helps to demonstrate why all amps do not sound the same.

Much appreciate your 2 cents. Its worth more to me than many specs sheets. Well done and keep'em coming. Thank you!

Thanks bro getting back in to audio and learning right now. Your information helps.Finally somebody that explains things clearly. Thanks again. Rock on from a 55 year old metal head! Love Jazz too

Naim sounds really good with maggies. I had the 2.7's and bought them after hearing them with the Naim 60 wpc amp and pre amp . Really good.

Naming amps that didn't work would be super helpful also!

I have been driving my .7s with the Musical Fidelity m6si. Extremely happy with the setup 5 years into it.

Magnepans were my first "serious" speaker - the MG-IIB I bought new as kid. I've had numerous other Maggie models since. Love them, and the new models are their best ever. I've used lots of amplifiers with them. Agreed on the "try it and see" approach. That's effectively the advice Magnepan offers on its website. And assembling a good sounding system by reading specs is a tough way to go. I've used transistor and tubed amps with Maggies, and many power ratings and brands. Typically, I used tubes, either Audio Research or Conrad-Johnson; mostly C-J. Power from 35wpc to 400wpc. I found the lovely and venerable Dynaco ST-70 sounded very nice - until it very quickly ran out of steam. Not nearly enough power. C-J tubed amps of 70wpc (MV-75A-1 and Premier 11A) to 140wpc (Premier 12 monoblocks) worked beautifully. I've very much enjoyed the Odyssey Audio amplifiers. The Odyssey Audio Stratos was lovely with MMGs and 1.6QRs. Try it 'n see...

Those speakers require a lot of current to get frequencies below 150 Hz. One of the trick is to use a subwoofer with a high frequency filter to remove low frequencies from being sent to the speakers while the sub will take care of them. Thus you can keep all the current produced by the amplifier to be send to the speakers.

Current matter more than watts is my experience. I have 1.7s and had the higher watt class D and was disappointed. One day just for kicks I put on my Scott LK 48 tube amplifier which is only 19 Watts. And my mind was blown. I was hearing everything I didn't hear from the class D. The happy medium was class A B 100 W to 200 W. Recently picked up an Adcom GFA 5802 and it's perfect. Lots of current and power for my normal volume listening.

I'm using a Rogue Chronus mag 3 DARK all tube integrated with my LRS+'s, very nice sound, plenty of tube power.

I had a Nakamichi TA-4A that I hoped would work with the LRS speakers. I was really disappointed so I gave it to a friend to fix up so I could sell it. I tried an HK Citation 8 which sounded okay but not great. Then a Nikkon Alpha 230 which was better but not great. Then my Nak came back with new capacitors and my gosh it hit the sweet spot. The highs weren't shrill and it had bass and the mids sound so perfect. You're right, there is trial and error. I didn't want to put thousands of dollars into the amplification and I bought everything used on ebay. It helped that I knew someone who could fix up the Nak. One comment about your video, sometimes different companies make different sounding equipment so maybe saying Parasound isn't enough and you should mention the model numbers that you found worked well.

I tried my Maggie IIIa with Bryston 4B, Threshold, Spectral, Roland, Krell, Mark Levinson back in the 80's. Out of these solid state amps the best one was Mark Levinson. However couple of years later I got a pair of VTL mono 225 tube, with Audible Illusion modulus 3a tube preamp. OMG! Heavenly sound.

Schiit Aegir monoblocks work perfectly with LRS's; surprisingly wonderful combo. No clipping. My dac straight into the Aegirs is a little loud in fact, probably the top end of my comfortable volume range. Gain matching is really important, you don't want to have your attenuator knob down at 9 o'clock to be able to listen to your system.

Thank you for an excellent video. I approached the same subject with a few preconceptions as well. More power, high current, high damping factor, etc. Tried a $12K 75W tube amp, a 460W solid state with a damping factor of 4,000, etc. Ended up with a 110W $75 solid state amp from the eighties. When it comes to Maggies trial and error is the only way to go. But I have never considered NAIM. Will try it.

Jay, you're absolutely right, it's all about current. When I had the Simaudio i7/Magnepan 1.6qr's, the i7had a really good grip and plenty of juice for the 1.6qr's. Currently, I own the .7's and have found a truly surprising match withe both the Peachtree amp500, and even smoother sound with their GaN400. If you get the opportunity, take a listen.

Right now I'm listening to my Magnepan MG-1.5/QR speakers driven by an Adcom GFA-555 II amp with a B&K Sonata pre-amp. I bought these components thirty years ago and recently brought them out of storage and they still work great. This amp is a beast and has no problem driving 4 Ohms or lower and the Magnepans are a piece of cake for it.

I drive my MG 12 QR with Hegel H160 and love it...

Hi Jay - thanks for posting this vid, thumbs up from me - - been playing with maggies since the later 70's - no doubt, they need current and I appreciate that you made that particular point in this vid - - was just kind of thinking that the crappy sounding class D amp you tried would probably sound crappy in other applications as well, may not be just the "current" thing and I know you get that, just saying, and sure, wattage ratings can't predict an amp's sound, a great point you made through your own experience - however, there are class D amps out there that work perfectly well with the maggies - I'm currently (no pun intended on the "currently"!) using class D monoblocks with the 3.7i's with satisfying results, I still own a great sounding A/B amp that I replaced with the Class D's - both amps are more similar than different sounding, surprising to me cause I would never have considered that a class D amp would work in my system, at least until recently - but anyway, the Class D's, although not "night & day", do sound better and project a better sound stage. I have a buddy that has the Naim you referred to, sounds excellent to me, like you, surprising considering the wattage "specs", it's hard to "shake" that idea even though we should know better- he's matched it with Spendors, love the sound he's getting.

Maggie's owner here since 1989.. Accuphase and conrad-johnson PV-3 was a fantastic combo on my SMGa's.. Currently using the Mini GaN 5 class D and it's great.